Relatives say Navy veteran father had worsening PTSD
San Diego police identified the three people found fatally shot inside their home on the morning of 16 September as Amy Voight, 54, her husband David Voight, 56, and the couple’s 13-year-old daughter. A concerned neighbor discovered all three, and they were pronounced dead at the scene, the department said.
Investigators found a weapon inside the residence, according to police. The San Diego County medical examiner’s office will conduct autopsies to determine the cause and manner of death. The police statement did not name a suspect or announce charges.
Gerald Austin, Amy Voight’s father, told the San Diego Union-Tribune that his son-in-law had served as a Navy officer in Iraq and Afghanistan and that his daughter worked with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service as a digital forensic examiner. He said he believed the violence was driven by David Voight’s post-traumatic stress disorder.
“You could visibly see there was something really wrong,” Mary Austin, Amy’s mother, told Fox 5. “He was fidgety. You could tell.”
Mary Austin said David Voight’s PTSD symptoms had recently become more severe and that she and her husband had urged their daughter to seek help. Gerald Austin said his daughter had tried in recent days to get her husband services but that the family was told it did not have an appointment and could not be seen.
The Department of Veterans Affairs said in a statement that it could not comment on the case, citing privacy concerns, but that “what’s being alleged regarding VA services is not accurate.” VA press secretary Quinn Slaven added: “All VA healthcare facilities offer same-day mental healthcare to all Veterans who request it.”
The VA has estimated that seven percent of all veterans experience PTSD in their lifetimes, with the rate rising to 29 percent among those who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. Deployment significantly increases the risk of PTSD, the department has said.